New Social Security Trustees Report Raises Fresh Alarm

As Spellings pointed out, more than 65 million Americans depend on Social Security’s income insurance programs each year for retirement security, disability assistance and health coverage — yet both trust funds are on unsustainable paths.

“Without action, millions will face reduced benefits and greater uncertainty,” she warned. “The good news is that Congress has the opportunity to solve these problems with smart, gradual and fair reforms that leaders in both parties can support. But the longer we wait, the fewer and more difficult the options become.”

A similar take was shared by the Center for a Responsible Federal Budget. Upon insolvency of the retirement program, beneficiaries face a 23% across-the-board benefit cut, the organization warned. Medicare payments, meanwhile, would be cut by 11%, and both cuts would grow over time.

“Seventy million people rely on Social Security and Medicare, and yet our leaders continue to let these programs hurtle toward insolvency,” warned Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. “And it’s not just the negligence of letting another year pass — Washington is actively making things worse. … Congress seems more intent on cutting taxes and scoring political points than rescuing these programs from the brink.”

Cato Institute scholar Romina Boccia likewise called the 2025 report “bleak.”

“The program is barreling toward insolvency — and fast,” she warned.

Among the more worrying new facts, according to Boccia, is that the program’s 75-year unfunded obligation — the difference between the present value of projected spending and revenues — has increased from last year’s estimate of $25 trillion to about $28 trillion.

“This significant worsening of the program’s finances since last year is largely the result of the repeal of the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) — a costly, bipartisan election-year giveaway masquerading as reform,” she explained. “Instead of tackling Social Security’s structural imbalances, Congress chose to increase benefits for a vocal minority — accelerating the program’s insolvency in the process.

“Other countries haven’t waited until their systems collapsed to act,” Boccia added. “They made politically difficult choices in advance to preserve the core promise of government-provided retirement benefits in the face of aging demographics. It’s not too late for the United States to follow the course.”

Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, suggests there are two primary options for action: Bringing more money into Social Security, or reducing benefits.

“Any politician who doesn’t support increasing Social Security’s revenue is, by default, supporting benefit cuts,” she wrote. “In poll after poll, the American people are clear that they strongly support making the wealthy pay their fair share into Social Security, and overwhelmingly oppose benefit cuts. As divided as Americans are over many issues, we are united about Social Security.”

According to Altman, income inequality has cost Social Security more than $1.4 trillion since 1983.

“If the wealthy pay in on all of their income, including unearned investment income, we can easily afford to protect and expand Social Security’s modest benefits,” she argued. “Democrats have introduced several bills that would do just that. In sharp contrast, Donald Trump and his Republican colleagues want to give even more tax breaks to billionaires.”

At the end of the day, Altman said, the question about whether to expand or cut Social Security is “a question of values, not affordability.”

“America is the wealthiest country in the history of the world, at the wealthiest moment in our history,” she observed. “That money can remain concentrated in the hands of billionaires, or it can go towards Social Security, enriching all of our lives.”

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